Monthly Book Recommendation:
January 2019

Read the finest books showcasing the finest aspects of classical conservative thought. Check in here every month where Pax Americana will recommend to you books that represent pillars of important classical conservative thought.

1984, by George Orwell

(audiobook link below)

Eric Arthur Blair, commonly referred to by his pen name George Orwell, was a British author devoted to focusing his writing on a sentiment of anti-totalitarianism. Although many far left extremists today would consider themselves agreeing with these statements, Orwell’s dystopian novel, 1984, predicts the exact future the modern left has created. Although 1984 was intended to be a hypothetical future where basic thought is extremely limited, many of the instances make conservatives chuckle as it seems Orwell is predicting the philosophy of today’s political left.

Throughout Orwell’s novel, he creates words commonly used today to refer to an oppressive government, including the ideas of a “big brother” and the “thought police.” The story goes into detail about a dystopian future where Great Britain becomes a state-controlled totalitarian regime which limits the freedom of individuals in many ways. The ruling party of the country in the book 1984 controls what is acceptable to think and what is believed to be a thought-crime. This leads to the state controlling the meaning of words, thus causing some words to change meaning completely. The changing meaning of the words peace and war is evident in the book, resulting in an extreme Cold War era feeling and uncertainty from the population. This manipulation of words also dips into the changing of the state’s history. The main character, Winston, believes the Party is continuously changing history to play in their favor, leaving the accuracy of past events to be unclear. The Party goes as far as changing books and pictures to modify the population’s perception of past events. As ridiculous as Orwell’s world sounds, it is mirroring the continuous decay of acceptable thought in modern America. To many liberals in the modern age, anything coming out of the mouth of a conservative is racist, sexist, xenophobic or all of these derogatory terms. Modern liberals also attempt to deceive Americans on the history of the United States. The destroying of statues and rewriting of history books is blatant proof liberals want to change America’s past. The rewritten history books now given to America’s youth, for instance, Howard Zinn’s People’s History of the United States, are no different than the propaganda spread by the Party in 1984. This is a direct correlation to 1984’s thought police and thought-crimes, with the liberals acting as big brother and individual truth being the illegal thoughts.

Another fascinating analogy that can be made from George Orwell’s book 1984 is the phenomenon today referred to as 2+2=5. In 1984, the main character contemplated if there is a possibility the controlling state will declare 2+2=5. Although this isn’t true mathematically, the state could order it to be correct, causing the majority to believe it. Today, this phenomenon can be found in the gender debate. Scientifically and logically, there are two genders. Regardless of this truth, the modern political left pushes the idea there are more than two genders. It is getting to the point where people think there are more than two genders just because others believe there are. This, described by Orwell, is complete hysteria and is something to fear in the future.

George Orwell’s novel 1984 is a compelling story on how totalitarian regimes can cause the downfall of society and the importance of the individual. The striking resemblances between 1984 and the modern political left are frightening. Although the instances that occur in Orwell’s novel are intended to be in a setting of a dystopian future, the same actions are taking place in American culture and politics. The thoughts within 1984 may seem far from possible, but if objectivism continues, America will slowly become a totalitarian state the founding fathers would be ashamed of.

https://archive.org/details/George-Orwell-1984-Audio-book